More turn to Bazis for help as economic crisis worsens

JAKARTA (JP): Increasing numbers of people are asking for financial assistance from the Jakarta office of Bazis, the board in charge of overseeing the collection of Islamic alms, to finance their children's education, an executive said on Tuesday.

"They complained that they had not paid their children's school fees for three or four months, as their priority was their basic needs, such as food, which are becoming expensive," he said.

Without giving details on the number of people seeking assistance, Muin said, "Based on my observations every day, the Bazis office is packed with hundreds of donation seekers. Their number is much higher than... before the economic crisis hit the country."

In order to further persuade Moslem businesspeople to fulfill their religious obligation to spare part of their fortunes, Bazis had adopted a system by which it could receive alms through bank account transfers and the Internet, he said.

The implementation of the new system constituted a major leap forward as it used to implement a door-to-door system to collect alms. "But in certain cases we still implement the conventional way," Muin told reporters at a ceremony for the introduction of the modern system of alms collection at City Hall.

The ceremony was attended by Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and Poverty Eradication Haryono Suyono and deputy chairman of the Indonesian Ulemas Council Ali Yafie.

Muin admitted that the board was finding it difficult to meet the rising demand for financial assistance from the people as this year's alms collection total was expected to drop as a result of the crisis.

"We have about Rp 10.9 billion (US$900,000) but the demand is calculated to exceed Rp 100 billion," he said.

He hoped that through the modern system of alms collection, Bazis could meet the demand.

City administration data shows that only 10 percent of the capital's 9.6 million population regularly gave alms through Bazis.

Muin also said that Bazis would concentrate on donating foodstuffs to the needy as people were now facing difficulties in feeding themselves due to soaring prices.

"The (food) money is included in the allocation for the needy, who receive 75 percent of Bazis' funds," he said. (ind)